Proper bow maintenance, including regular rehairs, will ensure that your bow will last many, many years, as well as generate top quality sound from your instrument. Rehairs are performed with the greatest care and the highest quality materials available.

Booking Dates

I no longer do walk-in, same-day rehairs. Call or email me to make a rehair reservation. Bow hair is available in either white or salt & pepper.

Cost

Rehairs are $70 per bow, not counting shipping costs. All costs must be paid in advanced through PayPal.

Packing and Shipping Instructions

While Federal Express is the preferred method of shipment, UPS is accepted, too.

Ship bow in a case or, if shipped in a PVC tube, wrap in tissue or bubble wrap and slip it into the tube.

Assure that ends are well padded and sealed! Triangular shipping tubes are provided by both FedEx and UPS.

Send bow at a shipping store such as MailPlus as they are good resources for shipping materials as well as being a secure shipment destination.

NOTE: If possible, plan your shipping so that it does not fall on a weekend which often results in bows languishing in a wait station.

Restoration of historic bows is quite a responsibility in that you want to keep the character of the work intact. So any work you do on a historic bow has to preserve the hand of the maker.

Ole Kanestrom

Restorations can bring a historic bow to a state of integrity and service appropriate for its age. It must be accomplished discretely to preserve its integrity. Because of the time required to complete this often delicate and intricate work, restorations are available on an appointment-only basis.

Each bow restoration is unique and requires an understanding of the original maker's signature working mannerisms, style, materials and tool tracks. Before beginning work on such a bow I require a thorough examination and evaluation of the work at hand, after which I provide a proposed outline for how to complete the work along with an cost estimate for approval by the customer. As work progresses on the bow it is often necessary to revisit and adjust the original estimate, it is the nature of the beast. It's not uncommon to uncover unforeseen damage as one gets deeper into the work. The work is accompanied by photographs.

Tubbs Bow Restoration

Here is a severely worn Tubbs bow with no tip plate and damaged stick and frog. The stick wear in the handle had been poorly filled and the only option was to inlay a new piece of wood to regain the integrity and strength of the original. The frog had been repaired with a horrific match of ebony in the cheval. That was removed and a new cheval with silver underslide installed with greater care in the selection of materials. The restoration was completed with the addition of a new silver tip plate and all new pearl in the frog.

Tortoise Shell Bow Restoration

This beautiful tortoise shell frog had been severely bug damaged. Using a technique of epoxy and matching dyes, it now looks as if nothing happened to the frog. The translucency, color and luster match the original perfectly.

Not everyone is capable of restoring a historically significant bow because it requires understanding of how the maker works; the tracks of the tools; just the whole signature of the maker. And so, to have someone who doesn't fully understand that work on a bow like that is potentially going to destroy the character and value of the bow. So it's very important that anyone who works on the bow has a full knowledge of the maker that he's working with. So you're kind of working side by side with the original maker. That's really a cool thing.

Ole Kanestrom

Bow repairs are also done on an appointment basis. They are of the highest quality but, unlike restorations, are by nature simpler and usually require much less time to bring a bow back into service. Repairs include screw and eyelet replacements, tip plates, grips, thumb leathers, pins, pearl slides and eyes, bending improvements, broken bows... to name just a few services provided.

Peccatte Bow Repair

A very worn Peccatte frog with a bad cheval and cracked tongue. I did a full tongue graft on this one that goes all the way into the mortise. The repair is strong as new and the ferrule seats firmly on the newly formed wings. The cheval was replaced with wood that more closely matches the original wood, and after replacing all the shell parts the effect is beautiful. It looks very good for having had major reconstruction.